Skills Courses

In the spring of 2020, we are offering:

Facilitation

Counter-Crisis Communications

Navigating Confrontation

Cybersecurity and Conflict

Policy Briefing

Go to our course offerings page for more information.

In the fall of 2020, we are offering:

Facilitation II

Social Entrepreneurship & Social Change

Project Design

Skills for Fieldwork

Practical Routes to Resolving Conflict: The Middle East

Go to our course offerings page for more information.

In the academic year 2019/2020, the CR program offered the following skills courses:

Counter-Crisis Communications

Instructor: Brett Bruen, President, Global Situation Room, Inc. & former Director of Global Engagement at the White House.

Risk has gone regular. Governments and organizations now find themselves often overwhelmed by the seemingly constant onslaught of threats, turbulence, and tumult. This state of near-constant crisis requires a rethinking of traditional communications strategies. The traditional tactics tell you to batten down the hatches and ride out the storm. The Obama White House began to experiment with a more proactive form of crisis communications. First deployed against Russian propaganda in Ukraine, it proved successful in retaking the initiative and reframing the conversation. The class will explore how governments and organizations can more effectively identify and track their vulnerabilities. Students will have an opportunity to work on the development of crisis communications infrastructure and countermeasures that can be applied to current and future work. There are also a number of high-level leaders who share their experiences managing and covering crises. Past speakers include the Deputy Secretary of State, President Macron’s spokesperson, and President Obama’s personal assistant.

Cybersecurity and Conflict

Instructor: Boyden Rohner

Deputy Director for Operations, National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center 

This course explores the impact of information technology on conflict.

Food Security and Conflict

Instructor: Elisabeth Kvitashvili

Accomplished development professional with global humanitarian and crisis response leadership and field operations expertise spanning more than 30 years with USAID in countries such as the Caucasus, Afghanistan, Iraq, and the Horn of Africa.

This course is an examination of the dynamics of food security, humanitarian assistance, and the assessment of aid programs in settings of war, conflict, and hunger. 

Navigating Confrontation

Instructor: Joe Weston

Facilitator, consultant, coach, and peace advocate. Author, Mastering Respectful Confrontation.

The course consists of learning basic knowledge of neuroscience, as well as exploring practical somatic exercises to learn self-regulation and manage stress levels. Ideal for people in high-stress jobs and those in leadership positions, these tools offer strategies and practices to be more effective with less time and effort.

Policy Briefing

Instructor: Patrick Quick

Department of State, Policy Planning, lead advisor for fragile states, conflict, and stabilization, and foreign assistance

Whether you are in the U.S. government, NGO community, or private sector, delivering succinct oral briefings to policymakers or senior leaders is an essential part of any career. Through a mix of instructor presentations and simulations, students will gain skills in (1) constructing appropriate content for briefings; (2) tailoring briefing content for specific target audiences; (3) synthesizing information into concise presentations; (4) key presentation skills; and (5) constructing and delivering briefings under tight timelines.

Routes to Resolve Conflict in the Middle East

Instructor: Mara Rudman

This course is a simulation exercise, focused on the role of practical institution-building work/efforts between Israelis, Palestinians, and international actors in public and private sectors across key areas that affect people’s lives such as — water, energy, and related economic development. Participating students may gain a perspective on the impact of resolving, mitigating, or exacerbating conflict that such work may have, depending on how it is handled. This dynamic should be applicable to other conflict situations. Everyone will have an assigned role – the instructor will make the assignments at the beginning of the first session. Students will be provided with sufficient background material, an opportunity to absorb it, and briefing in class, to step into roles in real time. Students will be expected to turn in a brief memo (3-4 pages double-spaced), in the voice of assigned roles, as a follow-up to the exercise.

Senior Vice President for Policy/Projects at Business Executives for National Security. She concurrently runs Quorum Strategies, a geopolitical strategy firm providing operations and management, private-public partnerships, policy, and strategic advising.

Skills for Fieldwork

Instructor: Julie Steiger

Director of Program Operations, Syria Response, Save the Children

This course is an introduction to fieldwork in difficult conditions.

Social Entrepreneurship for Social Change

Instructor: Craig Zelizer, Founder and CEO of Peace and Collaborative Development Network

Over the past two decades, the field of social entrepreneurship has increasingly grown in scope and impact. This highly practical and interactive skills course will provide students with the core skills and knowledge to understand and implement market-based solutions to addressing complex social challenges. The course will explore how business-based approaches are being integrated with social change and ethical approaches to facilitating change.

Students will explore the field of social entrepreneurship, the challenges and opportunities, and the relevance of the complex social, economic and political issues in the 21st century. A core part of the course will be students developing a concept for a potential social enterprise initiative, from nuts to bolts including need, context, mapping the existing gaps, competition, a clear revenue plan, etc.

Students will complete the course with a clear understanding of social entrepreneurship, a wealth of tools, skills, and resources to advance their work in this area, and the ability to navigate the ecosystem.